International Women's Day 2017 - Southampton's women speak out

With this year's theme 'be bold for change,' we asked some of Hampshire’s most prominent women for their views on what they think of the annual campaign for women's rights - International Women's Day.

Southampton city council’s community leader Satvir Kaur grew up in the Sikh community - and had to fight for the right to go to university.

She said: “Like many other women who try to empower other women, celebrate their achievements and fight for more gender equality, I must admit to getting slightly frustrated with people (mostly men) who think International Women’s Day is a waste of time. For them, us women already have equal opportunities and standing in society so don’t understand what the fuss is about.

“However, I grew up in Southampton’s inner city where equal opportunity does not necessarily mean equal access and women do not always have an equal standing in society to men.

“For me, education was a privilege rather than a right because it was at a time and in a community where arranged marriages are common and girls were not allowed to go to college or university.

“I belong to a culture where instead of women, there’s a day dedicated to men, in which wives fast all day for a longer life for their husbands.

“I am a strong believer in the freedom of choice and respect decisions that women make, but in order for us all to live in a fairer and more equal society this choice has to be real, with real alternatives, support and access irrespective of background, race or religion.

“Despite better equality within the law, women are still victim to their circumstances so much more than men. We still live in a country where women are still trying to close the gender pay gap, find it harder to get promoted than their male colleagues and austerity measures affect them most.

“I will continue to champion IWD and everything it stands for until every girl growing up irrespective of their background, race and religion believes she can do and achieve anything, and has the freedom and support to do so – I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Engineer, CEO of Hampshire firm Corrotherm and a former IoD global director of the year Jan Ward: “I do worry about events such as International Women’s Day. My concern is that it separates women’s issues as if they are somehow more important and apart.

“By doing this are we ghettoising women’s concerns as if they are unrelated to problems of diversity, equal pay, abuse, poverty?

“The feminist movement’s purpose has been to achieve equality and there has certainly been progress in my working life. There could be an argument now that separating society’s issues is actually counter to achieving equality.

“There are of course equality issues in many cultures around the world and abuse of men, women and children on grounds of gender, religion and race, and they are problems for societies to tackle as a whole. Would it be more effective to take gender out of the debate and have International Equality Day?”

Masterchef winner 2012 and Southampton restaurateur Shelina Permalloo:

“International Women's Day means a lot to me as it's important to recognise the status of women in business and to celebrate the diversity of women's skills in the workplace.

“Some industries have traditionally been less female friendly, with hospitality and catering being one of them. Since winning Masterchef I do feel I have a duty to promote the industry and get more women excited about the industry.

“I love this industry, it's tough, long hours, hard work and full of challenges but it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done!

“Before Masterchef I worked for a Princes Trust charity called Business in the Community where I project managed Opportunity Now - a national workplace project supporting women in business, so it's nice to still be able to do public speaking in this area.

“When I do live cooking events I meet so many women who say they have been inspired to get into cooking or to finally follow their dreams and that makes me want to keep doing more public projects. I get to inspire people who may not think they have what it takes - and if i can do it then anyone can!”

Artist Sarah Filmer, whose project 700 Women saw hundreds of women process through Southampton’s historic gunnery and gaol God’s House Tower in a bid to feminise the building’s history:

“IWD remains both relevant and necessary in 2017: it offers an opportunity to reflect on the great strides that have been made towards gender equality, but also a chance to look at the enormous gaps where work, much more work, is needed.

“Systemic failures perpetuate the shocking statistics in the UK: only 15% of local council leaders are women; 14% of police commissioners; 10% of executive directors on boards*.

“The patriarchal status quo means that, in everyday life, women are systematically prevented from representing themselves, other women, and all people in the roles that shape the everyday life in which we find ourselves.

“How can we change circumstances when women are under-represented in the roles that create change? Opportunities offered, and expectations of women’s capabilities, are further complicated (reduced) by poverty, ethnicity, educational and healthcare challenges, motherhood and childcare, and wider caring responsibilities.

“Feminism in 2017 is a complicated, intersectional business, and don’t get me started on emotional labour….”

To address the complexity of our current position, to recognise that the right to live free from discrimination is a basic human right, requires extensive thinking, commitment and inventive new approaches: IWD offers a forum for women to come together and both celebrate what has been done and work together in solidarity towards a better time.

*stats provided by the Fawcett Society

Hampshire County Council’s director of public health Sallie Bacon: “Women in England have benefitted from huge improvements in health in recent years, including progress in care during pregnancy and childbirth, access to sexual health and contraceptive services, and comprehensive screening for cervical and breast cancer.

“However, even in our wealthy and advanced society, there is still plenty to do in areas such as mental health, domestic violence and unhealthy lifestyles.

“One cause for concern in particular is that women and girls are less likely to be physically active and play sport – by age 14, just under 10% of girls achieve the recommended amount of physical activity per day.

“This is the first generation of women who need to make a conscious decision to build physical activity into their daily lives. In Hampshire, we want to support women to find the confidence to become more active – cycling programmes, organised toddles for mums and youngsters, and promoting schemes such as the Couch to 5k are all helping.

“On International Women’s Day let’s celebrate the progress we have made, but challenge ourselves to commit to bold action to go further.”

Chief constable of Hampshire Constabulary Olivia Pinkney said: "Like so many organisations across the world, Hampshire Constabulary will be celebrating and supporting International Women’s Day.

"Over the years IWD has been a vehicle for change, helping us to inform and shape gender equality.

"I believe it is an opportunity for Hampshire Constabulary to celebrate our achievements, to pause and look back at how far we have come within policing and in turn to hopefully inspire future generations of our female officers and staff to consider and strive for roles and ranks which they might previously have not thought possible.

"For example in 2016, for the first time in our history, we had a female officer at every rank from Police Constable to Chief Constable.

"It’s important to me that we have the right people in each role, irrespective of gender.

"However, it is also important to me that the women within our organisation can see equal opportunities at every level.

"Indirectly IWD can also help to raise awareness of crimes against women.

"As part of our awareness celebrations Hampshire Constabulary are supporting a fundraising charity raffle for the Meru Garden Project which supports women in Kenya by educating, enabling and empowering women.

"This charity also educates girls on their rights, empowering them to stand up to damaging cultural practices, such as Female Genital Mutilation."